# Hip flasks for alcohol. Is it just a film trope **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies, liquor-alcohol\ **Created:** [December 31, 2021, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984 "2021-12-31T15:11:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2022, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984/41 "2022-01-01T17:09:48Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I also have one that holds 32 ounces that I got as a gag gift. Lots of laughs when I pull that one out. I found it, and it is actually 64 ounces. Cheers! [[Album] imgur.com ![](https://i.imgur.com/uq7uo0u.jpeg?fb "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/a/xxEMK21) ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2022, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984/42 "2022-01-01T17:44:18Z")
A flask is like a one- hitter for drinkers. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2022, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984/43 "2022-01-01T19:38:57Z")
I have one, have never used it and don’t recall whence it came. A colleague of mine used his regularly at university convocation ceremonies when forced to sit outside for hours to celebrate the graduates. He had a pocket specially made for it in his ceremonial gown. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2022, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984/44 "2022-01-01T19:47:07Z")
I’ve often said “Give me a flask and a one hitter and I’ll rule the world!” ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2022, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984/45 "2022-01-01T19:53:58Z")
Can that _be_ done from the sofa ? ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2022, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984/46 "2022-01-01T20:01:44Z")
No, both are made for adventures out into the wild. Like an overlook view or a festival. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2022, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984/47 "2022-01-01T23:11:15Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > “Give me a flask and a one hitter and I’ll rule the world!” Re: the second half of the equation, I never understood why so many folk were portrayed as smoking joints. I guess they didn’t mind wasting it. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2022, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984/48 "2022-01-01T23:37:06Z")
I think that the trope is more the single person who carries a flask for daily use and takes a nip multiple times per day. It’s an interesting digression so no big deal but people taking flasks out for skiing, sneaking them into a venue or other occasional use is something different. That said, I did know a guy. Many years ago I lived next to a little strip mall that had a liquor store and a hair salon for old ladies owned by an Austrian dude named Werner. I’d see Werner in the liquor store all the time buying schnapps to pour into a flask to get him through his miserable day. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2022, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984/49 "2022-01-01T23:39:37Z")
One hitters are a fairly recent development in the world of cannabis. Back in the day, joints were plentiful from $20 lids (OK, I’m old.) You also didn’t run the risk of being caught with “paraphernalia.” These days, weed is a lot more expensive and a lot more powerful. One hitters make sense. Besides, Mexican ditch weed took a buttload more than one hit to do anything, movies notwithstanding. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2022, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984/50 "2022-01-01T23:47:40Z")
We had good weed and one hitters back in the 70s, not a recent thing. Also I’d say that flask were more common back then. Sneaking booze into a bar to spike a drink to save money was actually a thing. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2022, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984/51 "2022-01-01T23:55:56Z")
I don’t remember ever seeing a one hitter back in the 70s. Good weed was a lot rarer, too. I don’t think I was ever that cheap back then, either. Flasks were for sneaking booze into restricted areas. If I was at a bar I was drinking cheap beer. Today is a different story. ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2022, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984/52 "2022-01-01T23:56:05Z")
For some applications, the so-called rum runners–flexible bags with mouths like a plastic water bottle-- have supplanted hip flasks. My parents used to go on a cruise every year where food and non-alcoholic drinks were included, but booze was sold at hugely inflated prices. They’d buy a couple of drinks, but most of their alcohol was smuggled aboard in rum runners, which have a large capacity, take up almost no room and weigh almost nothing when empty, and don’t show up on X-rays. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984/53 "2022-01-02T00:04:14Z")
Commercially available as [PocketShots](https://www.pocketshot.com/). ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984/54 "2022-01-02T00:19:27Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I think that the trope is more the single person who carries a flask for daily use and takes a nip multiple times per day. So Mad-Eye Moody. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984/55 "2022-01-02T00:24:15Z")
Hip flasks and other small alcohol carriers were popular in the military because in the olden days, if you got injured, alcohol first made pain more tolerable, or could make it easier on you if you had a terminal injury in the field. Think back to the U.S. civil war and suchlike. It was part of most soldier’s kit. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984/56 "2022-01-02T01:02:14Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > Hip flasks and other small alcohol carriers were popular in the military because in the olden days, if you got injured, alcohol first made pain more tolerable, or could make it easier on you if you had a terminal injury in the field. It’s why when in Western films if anybody got shot by a bullet or an arrow, was beaten up or has a nervous breakdown, someone will scream: “Bring brandy!”. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984/57 "2022-01-02T02:28:10Z")
Fun family fact. Until we lost her a few years back my cousin Debi (okay, my Wife’s cousin) in Phoenix ran Rum Runners Flasks. The official brand. With the pirate logo. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984/58 "2022-01-02T03:48:50Z")
I’ve seen an older lady use one on a domestic flight. It was a relatively short flight so I guessed she was nervous about flying. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984/59 "2022-01-02T04:05:55Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > Skiing. > > Blackberry brandy or peppermint schnapps. Similarly, when I was was living in Reading, Pennsylvania 50 years ago along with some other railfans I attended a couple winter weekends at East Broad Top, in the western part of the state. A couple of us had flasks loaded with Canadian whisky as snow snake remedy. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984/60 "2022-01-02T04:44:01Z")
I have a metal hip flask. I love it. I drink out of it at home, where no one is watching and I’m allowed to do what I want. I just think it’s cool. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-flasks-for-alcohol-is-it-just-a-film-trope/956984.md?page=4)